Shemot thoughts 5782

1. What gave Moshe the right to lead the Jewish people? For example he was never described like Noah as an ish tzadik tamim bedorotav. However:

• A. He might have been the only Yid outside the galus of mitzrayim at the time (maybe the only one for a long time!).
• B. As my rebbe Shloimi Gestetner said, he became yagdil - he matured - beyond the repressed mindset of galus mitrayim Jews.
• C. He was not necessarily in slave mode mentality like all the other yidden (perhaps given his upbringing).
• D. He realised he could stand up to tyrranical, oppressive and repressive Egyptian regime, in particular when he killed the Egyptian.
• E. When he fled Egypt he had a new experience of being able to leave it all behind and start life afresh, no longer in shackles. Proven when he chased away the midianites from repressing Jethro's daughters at the well. 
• F. He had a taste of freedom and defending freedom. A taste of what the future IDF would come to represent - standing up for yourself, your family and those downtrodden.

2. When Moshe responds to God that he cannot perform the task of talking to Pharoah because of his speech disability, we get an explicit and laid bare admission by God of his omnipotence. HaShem responded (paraphrase) "I am the one who created you and created your mouth and created everything in the universe. If I tell you that you can talk, then you can talk!"

3. Interesting to see that Moshe is explicitly mentioned as our first great scientist: "Moses thought I will turn aside now and look at this great sight - why will the bush not be burned?". With such inquisitiveness and yearning for greater knowledge (and finding the answer!) I think Moshe may very well be overdue for a posthumous Nobel Prize for Science. He found what scientists have been looking for since time immemorial - God, the source of all creation. And it's fair to say that if you start looking for answers to your primal questions, then God will notice that you have "turned aside to see" and will call out to you. Make sure you have the ear to be listening for his call!